Archive for the 'Brian Shaw' Tag Under 'Lakers' Category

Snyder, a Lakers assistant, won't be Michael Jordan's next Charlotte Bobcats head coach. It'll be Mike Dunlap, Steve Lavin's assistant coach at St. John's University, according to the Charlotte Observer.

The Lakers might be about to lose assistant coach Quin Snyder to become head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.

Snyder, who has impressed many in the Lakers' organization in his one year under head coach Mike Brown, interviewed again with Bobcats owner Michael Jordan on Wednesday. Former Lakers assistant Brian Shaw, who spent the past year as an associate head coach for the Indiana Pacers, is believed to prefer the Orlando Magic head job to the Bobcats' one. Longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan told Sam Amick of SI.com that Sloan had pulled out of consideration in Charlotte, which finished with the worst winning percentage (.106) in NBA history by going 7-59 last season.

Snyder, 45, doesn't have the NBA experience of Shaw, who was passed over as Phil Jackson's replacement when Brown was hired as Lakers head coach. But Snyder has an outstanding grasp of the NBA pick-and-roll game and connected very well with Lakers star Kobe Bryant in just one year together.

Snyder would not be the first member of Brown's staff to depart this offseason. Coaching consultant Ettore Messina has turned down the Lakers' recent efforts to keep him on staff and intends to accept the job as head coach of CSKA Moscow. Messina was an accomplished head coach overseas and previously led CSKA Moscow, but he spent the past season with the Lakers -- home and away -- advising Brown.

Another member of Brown's staff, Chuck Person, often organized the Lakers' defense the past season and could be a candidate for other head-coaching jobs. The remaining member of Brown's staff is John Kuester, who was the Detroit Pistons' head coach from 2009-11 and worked mainly with the Lakers' offense.

The speculation that Phil Jackson is headed to Orlando to take on the job of general manager continues, although no one is saying anything out loud.

Both SI.com and the Orlando Sentinel quoted unnamed sources who said the former Lakers coach might be interested in a front office job that would allow him to remain in Los Angeles and travel to Orlando sporadically throughout the year. The Magic reportedly want some one in the office full-time.

Former Charlotte coach Sam Vincent, who played in Chicago when Jackson was an assistant, has been the point person. Vincent reportedly initiated the conversation between the parties and under his plan, he would serve as in a front-office capacity and have two former Jackson proteges on the coaching staff.

Brian Shaw would serve as the team's head coach, and Scottie Pippen would be Shaw's lead assistant.

Jackson's hefty price tag (he earned $12 million in his last year with the Lakers), a request for a slice of minority ownership (according to sources), plus the Magic's desire for a full-time GM could put nix the entire plan.

Brian Shaw felt "weird" as the Indiana Pacers' bus rolled down the Staples Center ramp. He got a similar feeling as he stepped inside the visitors' locker room for the first time.

But any apprehension about visiting his former place of employment disappeared when Shaw walked onto the court for pregame warm-ups, a place he called home for 12 seasons as a player and assistant Lakers coach.

"This part always the same," Shaw said, looking around an empty arena. "We'll see when the game starts how it goes."

The Staples Center crowd hadn't forgotten Shaw and gave him a brief round of applause when introduced as a Pacers assistangt and Lakers Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Matt Barnes greeted Shaw before the game began.

When I had lunch with new Lakers coach Mike Brown back in September, I asked him about Brian Shaw, and Brown brought up how he and Shaw had actually talked for the first real time the very day before at a local coaches' clinic.

Shaw opened up some of his heart to Brown, so much so that it follows that Brown -- in his first time meeting me -- wasn't comfortable revealing Shaw's sudden and meaningful overture. (Shaw's directness in clearing the air with Brown -- instead of just letting the relationship dangle or put it off for another day -- is part of his gift in dealing with people and why I endorsed him as Phil Jackson's successor before last season.)

Here's what Shaw said:

"It was my first time really being around Mike Brown and I got an opportunity for five minutes to talk to him," said Shaw. "I felt there was this tension or awkwardness between us, and so I got an opportunity at the clinic to pull him aside. I think that so many people in L.A. anticipated or expected me to be the coach, and a lot of people wanted that. I wanted him to know that I really am OK with them hiring him. He got a lot of the negative vibe from folks not because of him and who he is and the way he coaches, but because of the way the situation went down with me. So my conversation with him was, I don't have any problems with you, I don't have any problems with the way coaches. I told him, you're more qualified in [a lot of areas].

On and on it goes. Now it's another take from Shaquille O'Neal about Kobe Bryant. Next up will probably be another Phil Jackson book to cut open the old Shaq-Kobe beef we all like to chew on from time to time.

O'Neal has a new book coming out, co-written with Jackie MacMullen: "Shaq Uncut: My Story." It is coming out Nov. 15. (It is his second autobiography, after "Shaq Talks Back" with Mike Wise in 2001, but hey, Shaq did play a long time.)

- So I'm on edge because I don't have I don't have a new deal, and Kobe is on edge because he might be going to jail, so we're taking it out on each other. Just before the start of the '03-'04 season the coach staff called us in and said, "No more public sparring or you'll get fined." ... Phil was tired of it. Karl Malone and Gary Payton were sick of it. ... So what happens? Immediately after that Kobe runs right out to Jim Gray and does this interview where he lets me have it. He said I was fat and out of shape. He said I was milking my toe injury for more time off, and the injury wasn't even that serious. (Yeah, right. It only ended my damn career.) He said I was "lobbying for a contract extension when we have two Hall of Famers playing pretty much for free." I'm sitting there watching this interview and I'm gonna explode. Hours earlier we had just promised our coach we'd stop. It was a truce broken. I let the guys know, "I'm going to kill him."

- Kobe stands up and goes face-to-face with me and says, "You always said you're my big brother, you'd do anything for me, and then this Colorado thing happens and you never even called me." I did call him. ... So here we are now, and we find out he really was hurt that we didn't stand behind him. That was something new. I didn't think he gave a rat's ass about us either way. "Well, I thought you'd publicly support me, at least," Kobe said. "You're supposed to be my friend."

Shaw was a finalist for the Lakers' head-coaching job after Phil Jackson vacated the position after the season. But the Lakers decided to start anew on their staff with Mike Brown, who was actually the Pacers' associate head coach previously under Rick Carlisle.